csammisrun

My friend John posted an article on his blog yesterday indicating that the entire month of June was gone, and it was now July. Naturally I didn’t believe a word of it, but I checked a calendar and the foul thing corroborated his story. The meaning is clear: John has taken control of the calendar industry, and also it has been a dang long time since I’ve updated my blog. I have been sort of busy.

I’ve been at my new job for three weeks now, and I’m loving it to pieces; I’m stressing a lot less now that I’m in a lower-pressure and closer-knit environment. Last week I started on my first strategic development project. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to be able to drive a project without hitting roadblocks, either technical or bureaucratic, at every turn.

And speaking of driving metaphors! I still haven’t purchased a new car, though I’m better poised to do so than I was at last posting. Dethkar’s hanging in there, and in fact turned over to 215,000 miles a couple weeks ago. The squeaking hasn’t gotten any better or worse, but it isn’t overheating or losing power or anything else I’d expect. I’m not worried about it stranding me on the side of the road. I need to decide what to do with it once I get a new car. My dad figures that the Mazda dealer will give me a nominal trade-in for it, in the $500 neighborhood, but I’m not convinced of this enough to bank on it. If it doesn’t find a new home with the dealer, I’ll probably sell it on Craigslist or something. I figure I can get a few hundred for it easily, as it still runs just fine and would make a pretty good project car.

And speaking of projects! shaim had its 0.4 release, coincidentally on the 4th of June. The reception was understated but positive overall. We fixed a bug that got one of our best testers able to use it again, so we’ve been getting a lot of great feedback for the next version. It’s more stable and full-featured (at least in AIM) than ever.

And speaking of stable! Today’s my four month anniversary with Courtney! Things have been going and are continuing to go great between us. Tomorrow we’re taking a trip to Lawrence, mostly just for the hell of it. She’s starting grad school in a couple weeks, and has picked up a second job at the Adult Services (reference) section of her library – going to Lawrence won’t make for a long trip, just two days, but it’ll still be fun to get away for a bit.

And speaking of…um…plants! Which we weren’t, but now we are. My damn plants became infested with damn gnats. I’m guessing they were in the potting soil I used to plant my herbs and a vine of ivy, but now they’re friggin’ everywhere. I’ve moved all my plants outside, but short of a complete repotting with known good soil and spraying the plants themselves down with some fun mix of chemicals, the best I can do is let nature take its course. Reportedly, letting the soil completely dry will kill off the gnats and their larvae. This is wrecking havoc with the health of the plants. One of my rosemary plants died, the cilantro plant got eaten (not related to gnats but still annoying), and the catnip is pretty much withered. I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to put up with this before I just do the repotting procedure.

And that’s it for June. On to July, with hopefully more frequent blog updates.